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Topic : Best of the lowest cost dog foods |
Wildsyde
Premium Member
Posts : 5,000+
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Have someone that is feeding Beneful. Not great but inexpensive is necessary. Is there any in the same price range that's better quality? It HAS to be cheap, her budget is extremely limited at this time due to being laid off awhile ago. This is called survival, not wants or what's best. The dog has some skin issues, possibly due to the dog food, and needs to loose weight.
Please no comments that the current food or other food suggestions are terrible and nobody should feed them, or that she should feed some more expensive food anyhow, that doesn't help.
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FallenStarz
Premium Member
Posts : 1,000+
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Diamond Naturals is something I've fed and liked the results. Its under $30 for a 40lb bag, which is about the same price as Old Roy(A few dollars more). If that's out of her price range, regular Diamond runs about $20 for 40ish lb bag. I'm not a fan of all the dyes in a lot of the lower quality dog foods, which is why Diamond is my pick for the "best of the worst". Its easy to find, at least in my area so driving all over the place is out of the question. I also really like Chicken Soup, which runs about $35 for a 35lb bag. I've heard some people have issues with their dogs on this food and it causing loose stools, but I never had an issue. |
LoupGarou
Premium Member
Posts : 5,000+
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I'm one of those people whose dogs had loose stool issues with the Chicken Soup foods, even though I attempted to make the switch gradually. I say "attempted," since I fed them exclusively on CS for less than a week before changing them back to Pro Plan--their time on CS was the ONLY time that I've ever had a problem with stool eating in my dogs.
Purina O.N.E. is readily available in Walmart and in some grocery stores and is not terribly expensive. There is also a weight management O.N.E. variety available and I think there is a skin/coat blend as well. If even the O.N.E. food is too expensive, I've known/owned a couple of Dobes that lived over a decade on Pedigree. It's not the best, but it's not Old Roy or Beneful, either. If your friend can't make the switch to a new food, adding a fish oil capsule or two to the dog's food might help with skin or coat problems. Good luck finding a food! |
FallenStarz
Premium Member
Posts : 1,000+
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quote
posted by LoupGarou
I'm one of those people whose dogs had loose stool issues with the Chicken Soup foods, even though I attempted to make the switch gradually. I say "attempted," since I fed them exclusively on CS for less than a week before changing them back to Pro Plan--their time on CS was the ONLY time that I've ever had a problem with stool eating in my dogs.
Gross! I'm lucky to say I never had that issue on CS.
I just wanted to add, I'm not entirely convinced with the argument "the higher quality food, the less they eat". 3 of my dogs are larger (An Anatolian Shepherd, 2 Border Collies) and they've always eaten the same amount (Except that period on Wellness Core, they had to eat triple to keep weight!). For whatever reason, I'm able to maintain weight with 2 cups of food a day, regardless of what I feed. My dogs are very active, so its not like they're just laying around getting fat, either.
I've had good results with Pedigree as well, except my Anatolian Shepherds coat got very greasy and he started to smell terrible. This didn't happen until he was over 10 years old, though. Its what he grew up eating. |
Aim High Salukis
Basic User
Posts : 233
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Well, Ash, I think it all depends on the dog. I doubt the Border Collies would eat any less if they were eating Pinnacle, like Giacomo does, but he benefits from it DRAMATICALLY. He used to eat 6+ cups a day (that was a rough couple of months) and was still not putting on weight. Switched him over to Pinnacle, and he's now gaining lots of weight at only 2 cups a day. The BCs do fine on Nutro though. No weight issues. |
fluttervale2
Premium Member
Posts : 166
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I feed my Labs Diamond Maintenance and am *very* happy with the results. Good poops, good coats, good appetites, good conditions.
Over the Back-to-School season, I was working 60 hours a week and my only local source was across the street from a new Walmart. The streets were torn up, tons of traffic, construction, and I just didn't have the energy or time to deal with it over Labor Day Weekend, so I picked up a small bag of the Kroger house brand, meaning to only feed it until I got the time to run out and get dog food. Well let me tell you--better conditioning, better poops, better coat on the dog that's living with me! I didn't think I'd find something I'm happier with, but this is definitely it. It's something like $12 for a 40# bag.
I've tried some of the "better" brands and I just couldn't keep the weight or condition (or coats) that I wanted. Both of them will pick at Eukanuba, they don't like the flavor, and I have a dog that I have always had trouble keeping in weight, so whatever the benefits were as far as coat went, he'd get skinny because he wasn't eating. |
hi-fi
Premium Member
Posts : 2,000+
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My dogs were eating Purine ONE salmon when money was tight and I never saw any bad changes in them, but, they are healthy dogs. Rio needed as little bit more to keep his belly full all night. When my mom was looking to save money, she complained the ONE was about the same cost as the diamond Naturals though, what she was feeding.
If she needs to save money and the dog is overweight, let her know she could already save money by cutting back the amount half.
I feel dog chow or pedigree is even better than beneful...
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Featherrun
Premium Member
Posts : 500+
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If she can afford to get a Costco card...you can't beat price OR quality of Kirkland. |
Ravel
Premium Member
Posts : 207
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quote
posted by Featherrun
If she can afford to get a Costco card...you can't beat price OR quality of Kirkland.
I agree completely with that. We've been feeding kirkland to our lab pretty much his entire life, and he's never had any health issues that could be associated with food. His coat is shiny and soft, he breath is good, his teeth are clean, and he has tons of energy. |
Chipstone
Premium Member
Posts : 370
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I would reccomend getting a Costco card and going with Kirklands |
Ithaca
Premium Member
Posts : 18
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Ditto on the Kirkland recommendation. My lab and my aussie both thrive on it -- people particularly remark about how gorgeous my aussie's coat is. The vet wanted to know what we fed them because they were in such fabulous condition. I find they do just as well or better on the Kirkland as when I had them on Innova, but it's a lot cheaper. |
TriStar Kennels
Premium Member
Posts : 119
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I also agree with the Costco Kirkland brand. I fed it years ago to my dogs when money was tight as well.
If she can't afford a costco card, I bet she could find someone who has one that would take her to costco to buy the food. That would save her the expense of purchasing her own card. |
Demented Psyche
Premium Member
Posts : 2,000+
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I agree with Diamond and my SBT is on Iams Lamb and Rice right now and thrives on it. It's about the only thing she will thrive on.
And the Kirklands ia a good idea if there is even a Costco around and within reason. Closest one to me is in Louisville Kentucky! Only...90 miles away. LOL Next closest is in Indianapolis at 102 miles and Cincinnati at 160. LMAO
~Morgan |
Kool Dogs
Premium Member
Posts : 3,000+
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Azland and my little dog both grew up on Pedigree from the puppy food to the adult food. Weewee is now on a kidney food, but Azland still thrives on Pedigree. As long as I see the results I am with the dogs I have, I will continue to feed it. *shrugs* lol
Kool Dogs |
Aisling
Premium Member
Posts : 113
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My 11 year old mixed breed dog has also been on Pedigree her whole life and has done fine. Other than routine visits we've never had any problems. Her coat is great, stool production isn't any more than what I've seen from better quality foods, etc. |
Wildsyde
Premium Member
Posts : 5,000+
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Thanks all for the suggestions! Will check the prices on those and pass them on to her. If Kirkland is the best hopefully she already has a Costco card, I know she can't afford to join right now. And thanks for keeping the thread nice! 
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Laelana Kennels
Premium Member
Posts : 81
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Also, with Costco, you can always tag along with friends! That's how most of my friends get in.... |
Dreisaiah Hundehutte
Premium Member
Posts : 500+
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I get Kirland Signature dog food from Costco. It's about $16.00 CDN for a 40 lb bag compared to something like Iams for $25 for the same weight. It smells good and not icky, so I know Keilah's getting nutrients she needs for an old girl. It was also rated like A+ on a food testing thingamajig. Her poo is usually fairly good and easy to pick up unless we add people food in it (been doing that lately to fatten her up).
Chicken soup... my friend fed that to her dogs, one is a Great Dane and one's a Shepherd cross. It was fairly inexpensive and apparently a good food but it gave the Dane a lot of extra gas, and it was also the food he was on when he bloated. So that speaks for itself.
I fed my dog Beneful for a year or so, and she really liked it. I didn't notice any major problems in feces, coat, but her breath did stink a LOT though. She had a lot of energy too.
Reina |
Dreisaiah Hundehutte
Premium Member
Posts : 500+
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p.s. You don't NEED a Costco card to buy from there. It just helps if you shop there a lot.. you can save money after a few buys kinda like other places. And then you get a tax return at the end of the year from it. |
Soundtrack
Premium Member
Posts : 1,000+
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I'll add my vote for Kirkland as well - which is made by Diamond, BTW. |
Templar Knights
Premium Member
Posts : 2,000+
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I like Kirkland too, it worked for Tarzan very well.
Scooby isn't getting as solid stools on it, so we may switch it out. |
11/3/2009 11:53:12 PM
